


Baccano! Les Enfants du Corbeau [The Children of the Raven]

by Ricky B (littletoes101)



Series: Before the Beginning [1]
Category: Baccano!
Genre: M/M, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-04-30 17:14:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5172491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littletoes101/pseuds/Ricky%20B
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Huey Laforet's “experiment” with Ladd Russo was only supposed to last for a few weeks, but fate had different plans. He struggles with the concept of loving another human being while still aching over what he has lost. Nothing is ever easy, and happy endings do not come without heartache. [Ladd/Huey, warnings for pregnancy, language, and graphic depictions of violence.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Experiment

**Part I: The Experiment**

This wasn't supposed to happen.

Huey Laforet stood, hands pressed to the porcelain sides of the sink, red-rimmed golden eyes staring at his reflection in the mirror. The faucet was on, pouring clear, cold water down the drain, the noise ambient in the back of Huey's mind. It took a lot of effort just to look himself in the eye, and then he couldn't anymore, leaning over the sink as his stomach tried to force out what little remained inside of him. He hadn't expected the sickness to be so violent.

Honestly, he hadn't expected any of this to be happening, at all. But here they were. Here he was, curled over the bathroom sink, struggling to keep his expression stoic as he wrestled with the millions of thoughts running through his head. Nobody told him it was going to be this hard.

* * *

 

It was morbid curiosity that had brought Huey here. Ladd Russo was by no means an acceptable romantic partner, but in truth, it hadn't been romance that drew him to Ladd. It was rather the incessant want, the need, to figure out how the man worked. What drove him to do the things he did, his bloodlust, why he wanted to kill Huey so badly. And Huey being Huey, he wanted to see if he could make Ladd fall in love with him, if he could manipulate the other man's emotions as deftly as he'd done with every other human in his life.

Six months of death threats, cross-country chasing, and fighting had finally gotten Huey what he wanted. The homicidal maniac was wrapped around his finger like a string. Whether he knew that Huey was using him to achieve a higher goal, Huey would never know. Driven as he was, Ladd was incredibly intelligent, possessing the brains and brawn to easily outmatch the majority of his opponents. Huey had seen him fight before, had seen him kill, and it was almost exhilarating to watch him, taking down a dozen men while barely lifting his finger.

And yet, he still didn't kill Huey. Not yet. He said he was waiting, for the sweetest prize he could get, until after he'd finished killing everyone else in the world. Huey laughed when he told him the first time, reminding him that he couldn't die only once, that it would be a waste for Ladd to wear himself out into old age before putting his hands on him. That only made Ladd laugh in response, then whisper in Huey's ear about how he knew how much Huey yearned to die, how much he would enjoy it when he put his hands around his throat. He was going to hold back that pleasure, he told him, for the both of them.

That was when things started to change.

Huey knew that taking the elixir of immortality could result in numerous side effects. Among those was the development of certain reproductive organs in people of XY genotype that hadn't been there before; no doubt a result of demon magic going haywire in the bodies of its consumer. According to the Devil, Ronnie, there were rumors of the childbearing organs actually being functional, which led to Huey's current experiment.

Everything in his world was an experiment, and Huey's own body wasn't exempt from that. He knew that there was a slim-to-none chance of getting Ladd to subject himself to such an experiment, so Huey decided that he would undergo the process. It wouldn't be difficult, he told himself; a few nights of sex with Ladd should be enough to do the trick, and he'd be willing enough to do _that_ , at least. According to him, his last fiancee, Lua Klein, had no interest in anything involving that spectrum of her sexuality, and any advances Ladd attempted to make were met with clear disinterest. While he was more than happy to leave her alone, this left him incredibly frustrated, and this frustration ended up being a good thing for Huey.

It wasn't that terrible, which was what frightened Huey the most. There were points where Huey truly enjoyed being intimate with Ladd, which was something he hadn't felt in decades. True, he had spent nights with Elmer when he'd become truly desperate, but he hadn't really enjoyed having sex since—

He stopped that thought in its tracks. No need to think about that right now.

Huey did make sure to explain the details of the arrangement to Ladd before it even actually happened. All he would do was see if he could get pregnant, and if he was successful, the fetus would be aborted before it got big enough to cause issues to the parents. Surprisingly, Ladd almost seemed to tense up when Huey mentioned the abortion, but he agreed to it nonetheless. All throughout it, Ladd made sure to tell him how much nicer this would make killing him, how much sweeter it would be when the time finally came, and though he'd never admit it to anyone, it made Huey's toes curl.

Everything came to a climax a few weeks later. A second visit to Ronnie confirmed what Huey had been thinking: he was, indeed, pregnant. But, there was a catch, the demon said. There was not one, but two new souls resting inside of him, both incredibly strong and already radiating with their own tiny life-forces.

The news hit Huey like a blow to the chest, and when he left the demon's house, he felt as though he was in a daze. Returning to an empty house, he sat on the couch, one hand pressed numbly over his stomach, remembering how Ronnie had put his hand there to feel the souls of his children.

“They aren't children yet,” Huey reminded himself sternly, getting up from the couch and stumbling to the bathroom. “Don't call them that. Don't get ahead of yourself. Don't, don't, _don't_ –” And then he leaned over the sink to vomit, and couldn't stop.

Now, Huey was forced to face the fact that his plan was falling apart as he heard the front door open and shut. His fingers tightened against the sink, knuckles turning white with the force it was taking to push down on it. Everything was going wrong. This wasn't what he'd planned, wasn't what he'd wanted. There was only one way to fix this.

He had to face Ladd himself.

 

* * *

 

Huey was hit with the strong smell of blood and gunpowder, which made his already-upset stomach lurch even more. Ladd was in the process of removing his bloody jacket, which, surprisingly, wasn't too soaked through with blood. It must've been an easy and uninteresting assignment, if he wasn't looking like he'd decided to take a bath in someone's bodily fluids. Even so, Huey had to cover his mouth a few times while approaching, just to keep himself from hurling up what precious little he had left in his stomach onto the ground.

“Ladd.” He cut the other man off in the middle of humming some morbid tune, great blue eyes settling on Huey within seconds of saying his name. He felt himself flinch, but didn't pull away when Ladd stepped up, calloused palm grazing his cheek. For just a second, Huey felt a spark of something run up and down his spine, the urge to reach out and hold Ladd's hand to keep it there becoming overwhelming. And yet, he kept his hands firmly balled up at his sides, swallowing heavily as Ladd took his hand away, the warm sensation at being touched fading as quickly as it had come.

Huey really was falling apart.

“We need to talk,” he finally said, keeping his face and voice impassive as ever when he spoke. His hands went behind his back, a sign of Huey trying desperately to keep some semblance of control over the situation. He couldn't lose it now, not like this. “About the experiment.”

“Yeah? I thought you went to see Ronnie today,” Ladd replied, taking the jacket to throw it into the laundry room. Then, Huey's hand shot out, grabbing Ladd's right arm just below his bicep.

“Look at me, please.” That got Ladd's attention. Never once in their time together had he heard Huey say “please”, and he looked at the smaller man with a mix of curiosity and shock. Huey loosened his grip on Ladd's arm, letting his own fall limply into place at his side. “I didn't go through with it.”

Now there was confusion. “What're you talkin' about?”

“I didn't go through with it,” Huey repeated more forcefully. “There are two, Ladd.” He was almost certain that he saw Ladd stop breathing for a second, before he let it all out in a long rush of breath.

“Okay. That's not all there is, right?” His voice was gruff, and Huey could tell that Ladd was struggling to hide his true emotions himself. “I know that's not enough to stop you.”

Before he could stop it, Huey's hand moved to his stomach, resting there as he remembered what Ronnie had showed him. “He let me feel what their souls felt like, Ladd. They're alive. He took my hand and he...” Huey trailed off, fingers curling and uncurling as he did. “I've gotten soft. I couldn't do it.”

There was a long, drawn out silence between the two of them. And then, Ladd did something totally unexpected; taking the few steps to close the space between him and Huey, he reached out, putting one hand on Huey's hip and the other over his stomach. Huey's hand slid over Ladd's, their fingers lacing together, bodies acting totally on their own, falling into sync with each other. He wanted to stop, wanted to pull away and tell Ladd not to touch him again, but Huey couldn't.

“You knew they were alive when we started,” Ladd said again, petting his hand slowly. “And that didn't bother you. Why now?”

“I don't know. I don't know what's wrong with me,” Huey replied, trying to swallow back his tears. “This isn't what I wanted. This isn't what I planned, this is – I let myself get attached.” His fingers tightened over the fabric of his shirt. “And now I can't do it.”

“And now we're having twins,” Ladd finished for him.

Huey couldn't take it anymore. It had all become too real, too physical for him to stop it anymore, to remove himself from it. It hadn't been like this with Chane and Liza, when he had Renee's detachment to feed off of, when he could effectively remove himself from really being in the situation. He couldn't do that now. Not when it was him who was carrying those two, tiny strong lives inside of him. Not when it was Ladd, who had tried and failed to disconnect himself from the emotions he felt, as well.

Collapsing into Ladd's arms, Huey finally let himself cry, a low wail he never thought he would hear again.


	2. 1a: Sickness

Huey couldn't sleep that night, which wasn't all that surprising, but not any less annoying. He stayed on one side of the bed, curled up around his cramping stomach, one arm wrapped around the bucket he was keeping close to him at all times. Periodically, he would sit up to vomit into it, but there wasn't much to get out. He hadn't eaten a decent meal in days, and most of what he'd eaten had already been forcefully ejected from his body.

Everything was making him sick. Every smell, no matter how subtle, was making him even more nauseous and uncomfortable. When Ladd got up that morning to make coffee, Huey thought that he was going to be even sicker, clutching the bucket tight as he leaned his head over it. There was nothing left in his stomach but bile, and he could only manage to dry heave a few times before collapsing onto the bed.

“I brought you breakfast.” Huey was stirred out of his sick stupor by Ladd's voice. The other man had come in, apparently while Huey wasn't paying attention, and was now sitting on the edge of the bed close to him with something on his lap. When he turned to face him, Huey could see that it was a plate of toast, only lightly burnt, with nothing on it. Still, it made him gag a bit, which didn't go unnoticed.

“I'm not hungry,” he said, trying to curl up a bit more. He couldn't understand why these two were wrecking so much havoc on his body; both Chane and Liza were relatively easy pregnancies. These children shared half of that DNA. But, then, they were also Ladd's children. Perhaps that was why he was suffering so much.

Despite Huey's insistence that he didn't want to eat, Ladd kept the food there, pushing it towards him.

“You need to eat,” Ladd replied. “Look, I know you don't want to. I know you're sick. But you have to.” He was right, but Huey wasn't about to go out and admit that. Instead, upon realizing that Ladd wasn't going anywhere, he tentatively took a slice of toast and started to chew on it, keeping the bucket within arm's reach.

“This couldn't be all you came in here to talk to me about,” Huey said between bites. Ladd shifted next to him, moved so that he could wrap his arms around Huey's waist from behind. Still not quite used to all of the close contact he was suddenly getting, he stiffened at first, then slowly allowed his muscles to relax. Besides, if Ladd was in here to give him the third degree, the least he could do was be comfortable while it was happening.

Ladd let Huey finish off the first piece of toast before actually asking his question. “So, these kids – are they gonna be like Chane and Liza?” The question made Huey totally freeze up, entirely unsure of how to answer that.

When his daughters had been conceived, it was under the impression that they would be pawns, beings for Huey to use, just like his homunculi. But with the two inside of him, there was no clear plan for what they should be. They weren't supposed to be alive. He wasn't supposed to be keeping them. At the same time, a part of him knew that these children wouldn't grow up like his first two daughters had. They were trained to be killers and their father's protectors almost as soon as they could walk. Chane had given up her voice in favor of keeping her father's secret, at the tender age of eleven.

Trying to gather his thoughts, Huey finally replied, “Chane and Liza had to be taught to become what they are,” he said tentatively. “Renee and I had both come to the agreement that I would be their sole caretaker, and their purpose was to be my protectors, and carriers of my knowledge – my experiments.” Sliding a hand down to his stomach, Huey rested it there, then started to speak again. “But I doubt that these two are going to follow that path. Unless that's what you wanted.”

Huey could feel Ladd's breath on the nape of his neck as he rested his head on his shoulder, slow and pensive. “No. I wouldn't want that for any kid, and sure as hell not my own.” Huey felt his heart clench at Ladd's words, understanding the sentiment. Ladd wasn't like Renee at all. He'd proven that by sticking around, holding Huey while he sobbed for hours and hours after telling him he couldn't abort the twins.

“Then they won't.” Even so, Huey had no idea how he was supposed to raise “normal” children, or really how to raise children at all. All he understood was manipulation. He couldn't – or rather, simply didn't want to – feel love. Or so he told himself. For an outsider looking in, they would say that love had spared the twins from death before they were even born, but Huey wouldn't say that. There was no way he was going to admit to that.

Admitting that he loved anything, or anyone, would mean changing who he was, and accepting the fact that he was human, which was something Huey was never going to do.


	3. 1b: Mortality (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is going to be really, really long, so I'm splitting it up so my fellow neurodivergent/attention deficit people can read the chapter without getting overloaded! Enjoy part 1.

Huey hadn't had to think of his own mortality in a long time, so when he got a papercut about three months into his pregnancy, he was forced to realize that the shield of his immortality was no longer there. He already knew that immortality wore off for a short period while pregnant, due to the growth of a mortal body inside of the carrier. Because of all of the stress and turmoil surrounding the discovery of his pregnancy, however, he'd forgotten to mention this to Ladd, whose face paled when he saw the injury.

“Are you alright?” Surprisingly, it was Huey who ended up asking Ladd that, instead of the other way around. He'd bandaged up his finger, but Ladd still looked like he'd seen a ghost, his face deathly pale and hands shaking a bit. Ladd nodded numbly in response, getting up abruptly from where he'd been sitting in a chair in the kitchen and ducking into the bedroom.

Huey had to admit that Ladd had been...odd, lately. It wasn't that he'd been avoiding Huey; in fact, he'd been doing the exact opposite. The man had been strangely attentive to Huey's needs, urging him to rest as much as he could and keeping a close eye on him at all times. Although Huey assured him that exercise during pregnancy was a good thing, and that he'd be fine as long as there were no complications, Ladd remained cautious. Sometimes, it almost seemed like he was afraid, which was  _definitely_ out of character for him. Ladd Russo was never afraid.

Instead of leaving him alone like he normally did, Huey decided to follow him into the bedroom, abandoning his task of washing the dishes in favor of figuring out what was making his homicidal room mate so nervous. What he found was Ladd stretched out on the bed, back turned towards the door, and cradling something in his hand. It looked like a wallet; on closer inspection, there seemed to be a single picture in it, which Ladd slowly stroked with his thumb.

Huey immediately recognized the boy in the photo as a much younger Ladd. He was smiling wide, and had his arm around a girl who Huey didn't recognize. She was petite, but actually not that much shorter than Ladd. Her hair looked curled, and pale, and she seemed to be speaking to Ladd in the photo, apparently displeased with having her picture taken. Huey didn't speak until he was nearly right next to Ladd, sliding on the bed so that he could lay next to him.

“Is she the one who you cry out for at night?” He asked, voice surprisingly gentle. Ladd didn't flinch when he heard his voice, but he did close the wallet, putting it back on the bedside table. He rolled over to face Huey, and then pulled him close, throwing an arm around his waist as he looked at him. The physical contact was still alien to Huey, but he tolerated it, moving his hand to rest on Ladd's arm. “I hear you some nights. You call out for a girl. Is that her?”

“Layla? Yeah.” So he was right. When Huey was kept awake by his sickness at night, he sometimes heard Ladd quietly crying out in his sleep, usually repeating short mantras of “Layla don't go”, along with “Layla don't leave me”, but they never lasted long. Huey would calm him down with a hand to his back or his shoulder, and then he wouldquietdown, albeit staying a bit restless for the rest of the night. Huey had wondered what the story behind that was, so he asked carefully;

“Who was she?”

Ladd took a shaky breath at that. “My first fiancee.” Ah. Huey was unaware that there had been one before Lua. That could only mean one thing.

“Is she the reason why you worry over me?” Ladd's breathing went a bit ragged at that, and he turned his face for a moment. It was as if he knew this moment was coming, but was caught unprepared at the question. Huey thought that he might not answer at first, but then he did.

“Yeah. She is.” Then he turned his face back towards Huey. For the first time, he looked like he was in actual pain, and Huey didn't know how to process that.

“Did she die in childbirth? Or was it a bad pregnancy?” Ladd shook his head the best he could.

“No she – she was shot. We were gonna elope – because we'd found out she was pregnant.” He swallowed like it was hard. “But someone shot her. I lost her, and I lost – our kid too. It's been so long since I thought about her...” Ladd trailed off, eyes going unfocused as they seemed to stare off at something in the distance that wasn't there. The gentle stroke of Huey's fingers against his arm brought him back to reality, and his own fingers tightened slightly against Huey's hip.

“I'm going to be okay, Ladd,” Huey told him. And now, for the first time, he found himself trying to _reassure_ another person, genuinely, and not as a part of some kind of manipulation tactic. He really was falling apart.

They went to bed early that night, and this time, Ladd didn't cry out for anyone in his sleep.


	4. 1b: Mortality (part 2)

Something terrible happened on the day of Huey's four-month mark.

He should have seen it coming, Huey thought after the event had happened. On that day, he'd been sitting in the comforter in the living room, reading through an old copy of a scientific textbook he'd long forgotten the name too. One of his hands rested on the growing swell of his stomach, fingers gently tracing the small curve that had begun to grow there.

It was an unconscious action, one that he'd started to do quite often. The changes his body was undergoing were somewhat confusing, but even so, he couldn't help but feel a few sparks of exitement run through his fingertips when he felt the proof of life growing inside of him. Chane and Liza's pregnancies hadn't been this exciting, but then, he hadn't been the one carrying them. Things were so much different now.

There were some things that were not, and one of those things were Ladd's homicidal tendencies.

Huey was almost surprised that Ladd had managed to hold back for as long as he did. Whenever Huey suggested he get back to “work”, Ladd would get nervous and decline, saying that he should probably stay close to his pregnant partner, wanting to be on the front lines in case he was needed. It made more sense now that Huey knew about Layla, but still, he knew that Ladd wouldn't be able to keep his natural instincts back for very long. When he finally returned to his Uncle and family for more assignments, however, Huey felt something inside of him that he hadn't felt for a long time: fear.

The reason was simple. Ladd was mortal. Although Huey had no doubt that Ladd could hold his own quite well, the threat of death still lingered over him like a storm cloud. He'd already come close with the train incident. Granted, he and Huey weren't together when that happened, but both of them knew that Ladd had stared death in the face that night. How on Earth he'd managed to survive, no one would ever know.

It happened just as Huey was setting his book down on the table beside the comforter, ready to head to bed. Ladd had been out all day, but Huey couldn't stay up any longer to wait for him. As he was getting himself up, the door flew open, blasting cool night air into the living room. Instinctively, Huey flinched, then whirled around to see what had happened. Thankfully, it was just Ladd, but something was wrong.

When he shut the door behind him, Ladd leaned on it heavily, panting like a dog. His jacket and undershirt were coated with blood, but that by itself wasn't alarming. What was alarming was the sight of Ladd pressing his bloodied hand to the side of his chest, face contorted in true pain.

For a moment, Huey's brain simply couldn't process what was happening. It came to him in steps;  _Something is wrong with Ladd. He is bleeding. The blood is coming from his chest._ Finally, he spoke, his words feeling like they were coming out in slow motion;

“My God, Ladd, you've been stabbed.” Huey's voice was undoubtedly terrified as he rushed over to the bigger man to help support him, guiding him towards the couch. Ladd collapsed on it, legs shaking as he kept his hand firmly over his chest. “What happened? Tell me what happened to you, right now, who did this—”

“It's okay, calm down,” Ladd tried to assure him, removing his hand to attempt to give a feeble sign that he was okay. Instead, Huey's eyes went to the wound on the side of his chest, which was steadily pumping blood down through his clothes and onto the couch. It was all he could focus on, and then the memories started flooding back to him.

“No. No, Ladd, it's not okay, this is _not_ okay, none of this is okay!” Huey's pitch rose to a desperate cry, and his hands curled into his hair as he desperately tried to think of what to do next. His heart was pounding too hard in his chest, he was breathing too fast and too hard, his eyes were starting to water and he had no control over any of this. “Oh, my God – my God...”

“It's not that bad, I promise, it just looks bad,” Ladd told him, sitting up on the couch and putting his hand over his chest. “Just gotta clean it up, we need some bandages and cleaning stuff and I'll be fine.”

“You need a hospital.” Huey's words were firm, and he went to the phone to dial the number, but Ladd's voice halted him.

“Hospitals are where people go to die, Huey, and I'm not gonna die.” Huey's hands shook. The receiver was in his hand, and the shaking almost made him drop it, but he managed to hold fast, keeping the other hand on the dial. “I'm not goin' to the hospital.”

“Then let me call someone,” Huey pleaded, turning to face Ladd with tears in his eyes. _No, stop that, you're not going to cry. This isn't the same thing, he isn't her,_ _ **you don't care about him –**_ “Please. This is serious Ladd.”

Ladd looked ready to argue, but he gave in, not wanting to struggle with Huey anymore and being out of most of his energy. Huey quickly called Maiza, telling him it was an emergency and he needed to haul ass over there  _immediately_ . Maiza, having never heard Huey speak in such a way, told him he'd be right there, and then the connection ended.

Huey sat next to Ladd on the couch, having removed the injured man's shirt and wrapping a cloth tightly around the wound to try to stop the bleeding. Not entirely convinced it was tight enough, Huey held it there with his hands, the sound of his own blood rushing through his ears the only thing he could hear with clarity. Ladd kept trying to reassure him, but his voice was lost in the crescendo of his own thoughts, his mind fully immersed in what happened that day in 1710.

He wanted to be sick. This was nothing like what happened to Monica – what happened to her was so much worse, so much more severe. He'd been right there, and she slipped out of his fingers. He saw her get stabbed, the cold, cruel metal tearing through her insides, had saw her go down, go over the side of the boat. Huey had wanted so badly to throw himself off, to find her, to stop what was happening and make it all go away. As little as he wanted to admit it, there had been no hope then.

_'Let's meet again.'_


	5. 1b: Mortality (part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> End of chapter part 1b.

Huey gladly let Maiza take over once he'd arrived, sitting on the other side of the room while he looked Ladd over and dealt with his wounds. He was oddly quiet as it was happening, and didn't say a word from the time Mazia arrived until he left. Then, and only then, did he speak, looking over at Ladd with an empty, haggard expression.

“You're a very lucky man.”

Ladd laughed back at him, a rumbling, raspy sound coming from deep in his chest. Running a hand along the bandages that were wrapped around his chest, he replied;

“Yeah. If it was deeper it mighta' caught my lung.” Another slight laugh. “But, hey, it's kinda' unfair to put all that on _luck_ , don't you think?” He smiled, but it faded when he saw the look on Huey's face. His expression spoke of a man who had suddenly re-lived every single horrifying memory of his life in a single day.

Ladd was an expert at identifying weakness, but this time, he didn't use it against Huey. Instead, he said, “You were actually scared.”

“Of course I was!” All of the emotions Huey had bottled up over the last few hours came rushing out as he jumped to his feet, stalking over to Ladd. “I was scared, Ladd Russo! And _you_ made me that way! You come home, bleeding from a hole in your chest and expect me to laugh it off? What do you think would have happened if it _had_ caught your lung, or your heart? What do you think would have happened to _me,_ not finding out what the hell happened to you until someone called me, possibly days later? What do you think would have happened to _our children_ , who we agreed to raise together?” His hands were on Ladd's shoulders, gripping tightly with enough force to bruise. “You are _mortal_ , and it's time you started acting like it!”

His own outburst shocked him, but not nearly as much as what came out of Ladd's mouth next.

“What, did you think I'd end up like Monica?”

All of the color drained from Huey's face. His hands slipped off of Ladd's shoulders, falling to his sides beside him as he tried to comprehend what he'd just been asked. Instead, he asked another question in response.

“Who told you about her?”

“Maiza.” No surprise. Huey swallowed heavily, still trying to think of what, exactly, to say in the face of such a question. “You asked me about Layla, and you were right. She's the reason I'm the way I am with you now. So back to my question; did you think I'd end up like Monica?”

“Yes!” And there it was. Huey was forced to face what he'd been thinking of the whole time he'd been with Ladd, the possibility that he'd never wanted to think about. Immense feelings of betrayal and self-loathing washed over him in waves, and he turned away from Ladd, hooking his foot around the trash bin and leaning over it to vomit. He couldn't stop it, now.

He was violently sick for a few minutes. Ladd crouched down to hold back his hair, and to rub his back, doing the best he could to comfort him as his body cramped painfully. When it was finally over, Huey pushed the bin away, curling over himself as he fought to hold back the tears that were going to come eventually. Ladd stayed next to him, holding him close despite his own pain, determined to get to the bottom of this.

“I'm not her, Huey.”

“You could have been.”

“But I _wasn't_.” Ladd shifted so that Huey was mostly in his lap. Huey, being too worn out to complain, laid limp in his arms, leaning his head against his shoulder. There wasn't much else he could do, at this point. He was so tired.

“Let's go to bed,” Ladd finally said, ending the long moment of silence between them. “You – we both should get some sleep.”

Huey didn't protest, letting Ladd carry him into the bedroom, falling into a sleep disturbed by quiet, painful sobs.


	6. Part II: The Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Huey literally compares his daughters to animals in this chapter. Don't read if that bothers you, please.

At some point, Huey conveniently remembered that there were other people in his immediate circle of communications who needed to know about his pregnancy. Currently, only he, Ladd, Maiza, and Ronnie knew about it, but Elmer, Chane, and Liza had been left in the dark. The whirlwind that had been the past two months had drained Huey of most of his energy, and allowed him to forget about actively telling anyone and keep putting it off. Perhaps, he thought one day, it would be better if his daughters didn't know about their new siblings. There was little doubt in his mind that both of them would react unpredictably to the news, and Huey didn't like doing things that were unpredictable.

He already knew that Liza and Chane had attempted to take each others' lives multiple times, which was why he'd had them born enough years apart to keep them from having to live under the same roof. They were much like wild animals, he thought. Both of them saw the other as a threat to their most treasured resource, their father's love, and wanted to eliminate those threats. He had no doubt that they would see his and Ladd's twins as potential threats, too, and he didn't blame them. Already Huey had more attachment to the little ones growing inside of him than he did to his daughters, which would become painfully obvious soon enough.

Still, he knew that he couldn't hide it forever. At four months, he was already starting to show (not surprising, since he was carrying twins), and his daughters were frequent visitors to the house when Ladd wasn't around. The new relationship had been incredibly testing for them, that much was obvious, and Huey feared that this new development may push them over the edge. Of course, they would never go so far as to lay a hand on him, but his children may be in very real danger.

Chane would be easier to tell first, Huey decided. Being older, he felt that she would have a more predictable reaction to the news. She answered his request to come to the house quickly, as he knew she would, relishing the chance to spend more time with her father. Huey timed it carefully; Ladd would be away for most of the day, so that reduced the risk of her getting more agitated with him around, or someone losing a limb.

A bout of nervousness, strange as that was, had overcome Huey for a moment when she first arrived, so for a few long, agonizing minutes, they did nothing but sit on the couch, uncomfortably silent. When he finally spoke, he didn't hold anything back.

“I'm pregnant.”

Silence. Naturally, considering Chane couldn't actually vocalize. Instead, her thoughts came to Huey, patchy and disorganized with obvious confusion.

_'I don't understand.'_

Well, that much was obvious. Huey sighed heavily, pressing his palm to his forehead when he realized that meant he was going to have to explain the whole thing to her. Why he hadn't thought of this earlier, he didn't know. She couldn't have any idea about the side-effects of the elixir, as she'd never taken it herself, and he'd never explained it to her.

After nearly a half-hour of frustrated explanations, they were no closer to any kind of peace than they had been before they started. This was, unfortunately, what Huey had predicted; Chane was seeing the children as a threat, and as a sign that her father and Ladd's relationship was progressing, which was something she didn't want to accept. Huey could understand her anger, and her fears, but that wouldn't change the position he'd taken on the issue.

_'Why can't you get rid of them after they're born?'_ She asked, looking like a cat that had been backed up into a corner. Her eyes were wide, body still radiating shock, her thoughts still coming to Huey in patches.

That question took longer for him to answer. Why couldn't he give them up after they were born? Of course, there was the real answer, which Huey would admit to no one, so he had to think up of something else to tell Chane.

“Because, no one is fit to raise my children other than myself. You should know that.” It was convincing enough, and Chane didn't mention it again, going totally silent before she left to return to her own temporary dwelling.

–

The conversation with Liza was no better. Huey told her only a few days after Chane, and naturally, she was horrified. She screamed and paced about the living room for a good hour, and Huey let her, simply because he had no idea what to do. He'd seen her react in this way before, specifically after he'd gotten his eye gouged out in prison, but she seemed to be even angrier this time around, if that was even possible. She left once a few hawks ran into the glass of the house, subsequently killing them, apparently having had enough.

Strangely, Huey didn't seem to mind the near-outright rejection from his daughters. The more they kept away from him during these troubling and trying times, the better. After all of this, all he really wanted to do was curl up in a tight ball somewhere, but he still had one more person to reach out to. At least he could count on Elmer to offer something that wasn't entirely negative.

The phone only rang twice after Huey dialed it and before Elmer picked it up. He could almost hear the obnoxious smile in the man's voice when he spoke.

“Huey! How've you been? We haven't talked in a good while, haven't we?”

“Not since I escaped,” Huey said boredly, letting his hand rest on his stomach again. For all he kept trying to stop doing it, he never managed to be able to, and instead decided to give in to the odd sensation. “Listen, Elmer, I'm going to tell you something seriously, alright? I need you to not tell anyone.”

“Aw, don't you trust me?”

“I'm serious.”

A few seconds of silence. “Alright, I'm all ears.” Of course he was.

“I'm pregnant, with twins.”

Another few seconds of silence, before Elmer burst out laughing. Yet another predictable response. “Oh, Huey – are you trying to get a rise out of me, too?”

“I told you that I was serious. I do like to joke, yes, but I can assure you, this is no joke. So you can wipe that smile off your face.” Huey could practically see it through the phone. “It was an experiment that went a bit too far.”

“Right. So, who's the lucky guy? There's still got to be a father involved, right?”

“Ladd Russo.” There was a short, half-choked chortle from the other line.

“You're kidding! You know, if you were _really_ that desperate for more kids I could've – ”

“No.” _That_ was a thought Huey wouldn't entertain for a second. For however bad Ladd's children may be, he hated to think of what would come from Elmer. “Not now, not ever.”

“I know, I know.” Elmer had a few more short laughs, before asking, “So, why him? I thought he wanted to kill you.”

“He still does, that hasn't changed,” Huey assured him. “But not in this condition.”

“Ah, what a gentleman. Is he sticking around?”

“Yes.”

“And you're letting him?”

“Yes.”

“Have you told him you love him yet?”

That was unexpected. The question left Huey dazed, as if he'd been hit in the head with a 2x4. “Pardon?”

“Have you told him you love him yet,” Elmer repeated, tone just as casual as ever. Huey swallowed, forced himself to breathe, shook his head even though he knew the other man couldn't see it.

“I don't love him, Elmer, and I don't know what gave you that asinine idea.” He tightened his grip on his shirt, weaving his fingers into the fabric. “Just because I'm letting him be involved with his children – which, I admit, he has every right to – doesn't mean I love him.”

“Ah, but it's more than that, isn't it?” Huey could hear the teasing note in Elmer's voice, the way it lifted up his tone a bit. “I'm surprised. Does that mean our deal about me not changing is still going?”

“Of course it is,” Huey snapped, finding himself a bit irritated. “When I see Monica again, I will need you. I can't go back to how I was without you being the same.”

“Maybe you won't need me for that.” Before Huey could ask what that meant, Elmer continued. “Anyway, I've got some really important business to get to, so I've gotta run – you're still living at the same address?”

“I am.”

“Great! I want to see you, you know. Bet _that_ 'll be something to see!”

“Goodbye, Elmer.”

Huey rolled his eyes after the connection ended, leaning back on the couch as he tried to figure out what, exactly, had just happened.


	7. 2a: Growing Pains

Huey's body wasn't adjusting well to the pregnancy, which wasn't something he or Ladd were surprised about. At five months pregnant, he had gained a lot of weight, and the aches and pains of his back and hips were driving him up a wall. At the moment, he was leaning against the sink in the kitchen, overcome by another wave of pain.

He had been attempting to do some of the dishes that were piling up. Before he'd gotten pregnant, housekeeping was mostly Huey's job. Left to Ladd, nothing would get done around the house. He was a man who didn't mind living in near squalor, content to lie on the couch as everything else around him went to hell. Unfortunately for him, Huey couldn't live in that kind of environment, so the chores were left to him. As his pregnancy progressed, it became more difficult to keep up with it. His ankles and feet were swollen and ached, and so did the rest of him.

As he stood, panting against the kitchen sink, he heard Ladd get up from the living room and walk up behind him. Unexpectedly, Huey felt the warmth and weight of one of Ladd's hands against his back, rubbing gently along his spine. Although the physical touches were becoming more common, to say Huey was used to them would be totally incorrect. He was not a man who expressed his emotions through touch, and it had been decades since he'd been this physical with someone. He happened to enjoy the impromptu touches this time, and he leaned into Ladd's hand like a cat, still keeping his own hands braced against the side of the sink.

"I don't understand why you do this for me," Huey sighed as Ladd pulled his hand back. It slid up his side to his jaw, rubbing his thumb gently against Huey's neck.

"You wouldn't," was all Ladd said in reply. It was a cryptic answer, and Huey couldn't figure it out. "Have you ever really loved anybody?"

"Monica," Huey said without hesitation. "And...well, I doubt you could say I truly love Elmer, but he is my friend, as odd as that seems." He cut himself off before he could add "the twins," an answer his brain wanted to give but not his body. He understood why. It was as if Huey thought the more he denied it, the less he would struggle with the new feelings he was having, but that was unlikely. There was life inside of him now, and everything was starting to change. He forced himself to swallow heavily and continue. "But I forced myself never to love again. If I did, I would betray her."

"She's dead, Huey," Ladd said plainly. "An' so is Layla. When it happened, I lost her, an' I lost our kid. But I moved on."

"I promised her we would meet again," Huey replied, his grip tightening on the sink. Ladd rubbed his shoulder, feeling the tightness in his muscles. "I promised. I can't go back on that, and if all you're going to do is argue with me about my choices I'm going to go to bed."

"You need to do that anyway," Ladd told him. "Go lay down, I'll finish up here."

Huey turned around, looking at his partner with surprise reflected in his eyes. "You're starting to scare me," he chuckled softly as he brushed past Ladd. "This isn't like you."

"Times change," Ladd called back to him as he left, using the light singing tone in his voice he only tended to use when he was feeling dangerous.

For some reason, that didn't bother Huey as much as he thought it should anymore.


End file.
